Syndey Harper

What do you do when you’re a college student interested in producing news stories, but your school doesn’t offer it as a degree track?

If you’re Sydney Harper — you create your own path.

Sydney, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Political Science while minoring in Film, is the leader of countless video projects on and off campus. As the current multimedia editor at The Pitt News, the multimedia director of Pitt Dance Marathon and the former Communications Video intern for the Student Affairs department, she enjoys her fair share of creative content creation.

According to Sydney, she might not have been as involved in media without SRL and the encouragement from high school teacher Joanna Greer. Upon joining the program, the journalism class took a trip to West Virginia where they reported on B.A.S.E jumping. You could say it jump-started a passion.

“Everything I do on campus, what I’m known for… is all a direct result of my time with SRL,” Sydney said.

Video produced by Anita Wright/Student Reporting Labs. B-roll from videos produced by Sydney Harper.

When asked where she sees herself at the end of her collegiate experience, she said she hopes to continue working in digital content creation.

Video produced by Anita Wright/Student Reporting Labs. B-roll from videos produced by Sydney Harper.